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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Simulating Race Starts

When I began training for marathons, I tried do everything by the book. I simulated the race distance in my long runs. I practiced my hydration and fueling pre, during, and post run. I even made sure I was comfortable with the clothing I'd be sporting on race day. More than anything, it was probably my "control everything" nature in full effect, but I just didn't want any surprises when the gun sounded. However, at my first few races, I noticed one major game day event I'd overlooked in my training ... I hadn't simulated the start of the race on race morning.

It seemed that the fifteen minutes before a race started, and the 5 minutes after the gun sounded, were way different than anything I had trained for. There was typically a long - standing in place - delay in the starting corral ... followed by a seemingly all out sprint by every runner around me when the gun went off. So basically my legs had gone stiff and cold, and I'd lost any warm up momentum I'd built, followed by an immediate dash across the starting line while we sorted out the leaders toward the front of the pack. What the heck ... I hadn't practiced this!!!

So last year I began focusing at least one of my weekly workouts on simulating a race day start. This was the workout I did this morning. For this workout, I'll typically warm up for a couple of miles, and then stand around for about 4-5 minutes, and then begin running again, trying to simulate the exact pace I'll be doing on race day for 5-6 miles. (On a side note, I'll just stop and stand around for that 4-5 minutes where ever I happen to be at the time. So yes, it looks a little strange to see a guy in the early morning dark hours ... just standing there on the side of the street ... gawking at cars ... not running or walking or anything. Po-Po hasn't questioned me yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.)

I think the race day simulation has helped me with a couple of things. Number one, it slows my heart rate from the warm up and gets me used to a cold start. I would prefer not to slow my heart rate at all, but it seems inevitable at every race. Number two, it ramps me up to race pace much faster than I would normally pursue in an average workout. And honestly, since I utilized this approach, I really don't have those races anymore where 5 minutes in I'm like, "What the heck - why are we running so fast!"

For example, here's how today's workout went ...

2 Mile Warm Up ... 8:26, 7:37

Stand in place for about 5 minutes, then start "race" ...

Mile 1 ... 6:57

Mile 2 ... 6:43

Mile 3 ... 6:35

Mile 4 ... 6:35

Mile 5 ... 6:43

Mile 6 ... 6:22

2 Mile Cool Down ... 8:28, 8:32

Today's run was a little slower than I wanted, but my legs are REALLY fatigued right now. I'll probably take an extra day of rest this week to avoid injury and get some bounce back - but this should convey the general idea. Hopefully your running is going well - have a great week!

9 comments:

That's an interesting concept. I generally take the first couple of kilometres to warm into a run and the days that I try starting faster (like at race pace) it does feel really hard. Maybe I should be trying that more often.

I'm not worried about pace for racing but simulate other race conditions for my ultras. I put in a 35km to 55km training run as a dress rehearsal and use the race food and drinks as if I was in the race. I find much value from this and I'm sure your simulation does the same. I also wear my race clothes for those runs.

50 After 40

Hi ... Thanks for checking out my journal & notes on running 50 marathons in 50 states after the age of 40.
Running has added so much to my life, and hopefully some of my experiences will help your running in some way or maybe just provide a little encouragement! ... Be Great Today!